This file photo taken on July 08, 2017 shows a member of the Ku Klux Klan during a rally, calling for the protection of Southern Confederate monuments, in Charlottesville, Virginia. (AFP PHOTO / ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS)

US President Donald Trump delivers remarks at Trump Tower, August 15, 2017 in New York City. (Drew Angerer/Getty Images/AFP)

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visits the Western Wall in Jerusalem's Old City with his son Yair, a day after winning Knesset elections, on Wednesday, March 18, 2015 (photo credit: Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

Lebanese activists use an installation of wedding dresses by Lebanese artist Mireille Honein at Beirut's Corniche to ramp up their campaign to press parliament to scrap Article 522 of Lebanon's penal code which allows rapists to escape punishement (AFP/Patrick Baz)

Turkey is warning that a plan by the leadership in Iraq’s autonomous Kurdish region to hold a referendum on independence next month could lead to civil war, in Ankara’s strongest warning yet against the poll.

“In that country (Iraq), which has been through so many problems, a referendum on independence can make the situation even worse,” Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu tells the state TRT Haber broadcaster. “God forbid, it could even bring it to civil war.”

UN human rights experts say racism and xenophobia are rising in the United States, pointing to far-right demonstrations in Charlottesville, Virginia, as the latest examples and urging US authorities to punish the perpetrators of racist crimes there.

The three experts on the issues of racism, discrimination and the rights of people of African descent are seeking an independent investigation into the deadly events in Charlottesville.

The experts say they are “deeply concerned at the proliferation and increasing prominence of organized hate and racist groups” in the US, insisting in a statement Wednesday that racist hate speech “must be unequivocally condemned.”

They said far-right demonstrators chanted anti-Black, anti-Semitic, and anti-immigrant slogans, saying the violence in Charlottesville was “the latest examples of increasing racism, racial discrimination, Afrophobia, racist violence and xenophobia” in the US.

Far-right views should always be condemned and there can be no equivalence with opponents of fascism, British Prime Minister Theresa May says, in comments that implicitly criticize US President Donald Trump.

In the Virginia college town of Charlottesville on Saturday, a rally by neo-Nazis and white supremacists over the removal of a Confederate statue erupted in clashes with counter-demonstrators.

Trump has sparked a political firestorm by reiterating his views yesterday that there was “blame on both sides” for Saturday’s violence.

Police say over the last week 72 Palestinians have been arrested for their involvement in violent protests against Israel last month, when tensions surrounding Jerusalem’s Temple Mount compound soared.

In a statement, police say those arrested had engaged in violent acts, throwing rocks, Molotov cocktails and glass bottles at Israeli security forces as well as shooting fireworks at them.

So far, 43 of the detained Palestinians have been charged, according to the statement.

Lebanon’s parliament votes to abolish a controversial article that allowed rapists to escape prison by marrying their victims.

The move by the legislature follows years of campaigning against articles dealing with violence against women. The law had been in place since the late 1940s.

Earlier this month, Jordan’s parliament repealed a similar law.

The Lebanese law stated that rapists are punishable by up to seven years in prison. If the rape victim is a person with a special need, physical or mental, the penalty was increased. Article 522 added that if the violator marries his victim, criminal prosecution is suspended.

Supporters of the law in socially conservative areas of the country argued that the marriage would salvage the honor of the woman and her family.

Iran rejects a US religious freedom report critical of Tehran as “hypocritical,” coming from a country where Islamophobia was widespread.

Washington released its annual religious freedom report yesterday, with US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson criticizing Iran for utilizing its “vague apostasy laws” to execute 20 members of religious minorities over the past year.

“Iran considers it an unrealistic, baseless, unfounded and biased report which has only been made with the intention of certain political gains,” foreign ministry spokesman Bahram Ghasemi hit back on the ministry’s website.

“It is clear that religious and racial discrimination, Islamophobia, and xenophobia are a widespread and frequent phenomenon among American politicians,” Ghasemi says. “Muslims in America face violent and discriminating actions on a daily basis by state bodies like the police and security forces.”

The High Court of Justice rules that women must be allowed to supervise rabbinical courts in Israel.

The ruling comes in response to a 2014 petition filed by women’s rights groups who protested the lack of female supervisors in rabbinical courts, according to the Ynet news website.

Court supervisors serve in an administrative capacity with no say in judicial rulings. The job’s requirements, which previously stipulated that candidates must be eligible to serve as a city rabbi in order to qualify, automatically excluded women from applying.

That requirement has now been dropped. According to the new requirements set by the court today, a potential candidate must be a resident of Israel; possess a rabbinical court advocate license or a law practicing license along with a master’s degree in Jewish law or Talmud; have at least seven years of experience in rabbinical court appearances; and possess “character and lifestyle befitting a director of rabbinical courts.”

Confederate monuments in Baltimore were quietly removed and hauled away on trucks in darkness early Wednesday, days after a violent white nationalist rally in Virginia that was sparked by plans to take down a similar statue there.

Baltimore Mayor Catherine Pugh tells The Baltimore Sun that crews began removing the city’s four Confederate monuments late Tuesday and finished this morning around 5:30 a.m.

At 3:40 AM in Baltimore, Confederate Statutes of Lee and Jackson were taken down with a crane and moved out of the city on flatbed trucks. pic.twitter.com/hKh5aueLex

The Government Press Office is moving to revoke the press credentials of an Arab Israeli journalist for Al Jazeera news network over his alleged support of “Palestinian resistance.”

The decision to revoke Elias Karram’s credentials stems from a May 2016 interview he gave to a TV station linked to the Muslim Brotherhood, according to the GPO. During the interview, Karram, a 40-year-old resident of Nazareth, said journalism was an “integral part of the resistance” against Israel’s occupation of the West Bank.

Israel has regularly accused the Doha, Qatar-based broadcaster of bias in its coverage of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and incitement that leads to deadly terror attacks.

Earlier this month, Israel said it would revoke the credentials of journalists working for the channel and also cut its cable and satellite connections. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had said on July 27 that he wanted Al Jazeera expelled amid tensions over the Temple Mount.

Hamas’s Gaza Chief Yahya Sinwar says his movement is not interested in another war with Israel, but asserts the Palestinian terrorist group would “crush” Israel should another round of hostilities break out.

“We do not seek confrontation with the Israelis, but if the confrontation happens, we will crush them,” Sinwar tells a group of Palestinian journalists in Gaza last night.

Considered one of Hamas’s most ruthless leaders, Sinwar took over as the group’s Gaza chief six months ago. His rise to power fueled fears that Hamas might enter into another conflict with Israel.

However, since Sinwar assumed power in March, he and his deputies have repeatedly said Hamas is not interested in another war with Israel.

The University of Florida denies a request by a group headed by white nationalist Richard Spencer to rent space on the campus for a September event and his supporters vowed to file a court challenge.

UF President W. Kent Fuchs says in a statement that the decision was made after assessing risks to the campus, community and law enforcement following last weekend’s deadly violence during a white nationalist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia.

Arab Israeli Knesset members from the Joint List criticize the decision to revoke the press credentials of an Al-Jazeera journalist as a “blatant step against free speech.”

In a statement, Ahmad Tibi and Osama Saadi say the announcement made by the Government Press Office earlier today regarding Elias Karam is “vindictive and anti-democratic.”

“This decision must be reversed and Elias Karam and his fellow journalists must be allowed to work freely,” say Tibi and Saadi. “The Israeli government — which is responsible for killing Palestinian journalists and denying their freedom — is continuing its policies against Arab Israeli journalists.”

Khamenei’s office was responding to the furore in the US over an attack in Charlottesville by a suspected Nazi sympathizer, who plowed his car into anti-racism protesters, leaving one dead and 19 injured.

US President Donald Trump has raised another huge controversy by saying there was “blame on both sides.”

Iraq is asking the UN Security Council for assistance in collecting evidence to prosecute extremists from the Islamic State group for possible crimes against humanity.

Iraq’s Foreign Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari says in a letter to Secretary-General Antonio Guterres circulated today that his government and the United Kingdom are working on a draft Security Council resolution seeking assistance.

It was sent more than five months after human rights lawyer Amal Clooney urged Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi to send a letter so the council can set up an investigation into crimes by the extremist group. The wife of actor George Clooney said the world’s nations must not let IS “get away with genocide.”

Al-Jaafari says the crimes committed by IS make it important to bring the perpetrators to justice.

Former US presidents George H.W. Bush and George W. Bush on Wednesday issued a tough joint statement condemning racial bigotry and anti-Semitism, in a veiled rebuke of Donald Trump.

Yesterday, Trump sparked a political firestorm when he said that counter-protesters appeared to be equally to blame for violence over the weekend at a white nationalist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia.

“America must always reject racial bigotry, anti-Semitism and hatred in all forms,” the father-son former presidents say in a statement issued from Kennebunkport, Maine, where they have a family home.

The State Prosecutor’s Office announces that it intends to indict Ramat Gan Mayor Israel Singer for bribery, fraud and breach of trust.

Singer has nearly completed his first term as mayor, but allegations of corruption have plagued his political tenure from the start.

The offenses attributed to Singer relate to his conduct during the 2013 mayoral election campaign when he allegedly promised to appoint activists and service providers to the Ramat Gan municipality in exchange for their campaigning on his behalf.

The South Carolina Republican says in a statement that many Republicans “will fight back against the idea that the Party of Lincoln has a welcome mat out for the David Dukes of the world.” Duke is a former leader of the Ku Klux Klan.

Graham is responding to Trump’s comments at a news conference that white supremacist groups and the people protesting against them share the blame for the violence in Charlottesville.

Graham says Trump “took a step backward by again suggesting there is moral equivalency between the white supremacist neo-Nazis and KKK members who attended the Charlottesville rally” and people like Heather Heyer, who was killed at the rally.

McConnell says the groups behind the Charlottesville violence are planning a rally in Lexington, in his home state of Kentucky. He says “their messages of hate and bigotry are not welcome in Kentucky and should not be welcome anywhere in America.”

Trump said there were “some very bad people” among the protesters. But he also said: “You also had people that were very fine people, on both sides.”

President Reuven Rivlin expresses support for American Jews, and urges them to “be strong” after the racially charged violence in Charlottesville, Virginia last weekend.

“At this difficult time I want to express my support and solidarity, and that of all the Israeli people, with you and your communities,” the president says in a letter to Malcolm Hoenlein, Executive Vice Chairman of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations.

“The very idea that in our time we would see a Nazi flag — perhaps the most vicious symbol of anti-Semitism — paraded in the streets of the world’s greatest democracy, and Israel’s most cherished and greatest ally is almost beyond belief.

In the face of such evil, we stand now as we did then. With faith. With faith in humanity, with faith in democracy, and with faith in justice,” Rivlin writes, adding that he is hopeful that US lawmakers will effectively combat the phenomenon.

“As we say, ‘Chazak, chazak ve’nitchazek.’ Be strong, be strong and we will be strong,” he concludes.

The chief executive of 3M is resigning from the US president’s Manufacturing Jobs Initiative panel, saying it is no longer an effective forum for the company to advance its goals.

Inge Thulin’s resignation is the fifth following President Donald Trump’s comments after the violence in Charlottesville, Virginia.

In a statement, Thulin says: “Sustainability, diversity and inclusion are my personal values and also fundamental to the 3M Vision. The past few months have provided me with an opportunity to reflect upon my commitment to these values.”

US President Donald Trump announces he is scrapping two business advisory councils in the wake of several high-profile resignations in protest over his comments on a white supremacist rally in Virginia that turned violent.

“Rather than putting pressure on the businesspeople of the Manufacturing Council & Strategy & Policy Forum, I am ending both. Thank you all!” Trump says on Twitter.

The CEOs of Merck, Intel and Under Armour were among those who quit the forums following Trump’s comments about Saturday’s violence in Charlottesville, Virginia.

According to Channel 2, Mandelblit told Regev his stance was his personal opinion and does not reflect the stance of the government, which last month told the High Court it opposed same-sex adoption because of the “additional burden” it would impose on the child.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres says tensions on the Korean Peninsula are at their highest level in decades and it’s important “to dial down the rhetoric and to dial-up diplomacy.”

The UN chief tells reporters that the world needs to heed the lessons of history and not repeat the mistakes that led to the Korean War, which started 67 years ago and killed more than 3 million people.

Guterres says that yesterday he told representatives of the countries in the stalled six-party talks — North Korea, South Korea, the US, Russia, China and Japan — that his “good offices are always available.”

He said the international community must send a clear message to North Korea’s leadership to comply with its international obligations, reopen communications and de-escalate the situation.

Facebook bans the Facebook and Instagram accounts of a white nationalist who attended the rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, that ended in deadly violence.

Facebook spokeswoman Ruchika Budhraja tells The Associated Press that the profile pages of Christopher Cantwell have been removed as well as a page connected to his podcast. Cantwell was featured in a Vice News documentary about the rally and its aftermath.

Facebook has also removed at least eight pages connected to the white nationalist movement over what Budhraja says were violations on the company’s polices on hate speech and organizations.

Cantwell was listed on online fliers promoting the rally. The Keene, New Hampshire, man has been labeled an extremist by the Southern Poverty Law Center.

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